Chatham Township, New Jersey

This article is about the township. For the borough, see Chatham Borough, New Jersey. For two services common to both communities, see Chatham, New Jersey.

Chatham Township, New Jersey
—  Township  —
Chatham Township highlighted in Morris County. Inset map: Morris County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Census Bureau map of Chatham Township, New Jersey
Coordinates: 40°43′42″N 74°24′56″W / 40.72833°N 74.41556°W / 40.72833; -74.41556Coordinates: 40°43′42″N 74°24′56″W / 40.72833°N 74.41556°W / 40.72833; -74.41556
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Morris
Incorporated	March 10, 1806
Government
– Type	Township (New Jersey)
– Mayor	Nicole Hagner (2011)[1]
– Administrator	Thomas E. Ciccarone[2]
Area
– Total	9.4 sq mi (24.2 km2)
– Land	9.3 sq mi (23.8 km2)
– Water	0.1 sq mi (0.4 km2)
Elevation[3]	249 ft (76 m)
Population (2010 Census)[4]
– Total	10,452
– Density	1,111.9/sq mi (431.9/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
– Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	07928
Area code(s)	973
FIPS code	34-12130[5][6]
GNIS feature ID	0882194[7]
Website	http://www.chathamtownship.org

Chatham Township is a township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 10,452.^[4]

Chatham Township was incorporated by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 12, 1806, from portions of Hanover Township and Morris Township, based on the results of a referendum held on March 10, 1806. At the time Chatham Township was created it included the villages of Chatham, Florham Park, Green Village, Madison (Bottle Hill), and the extensive rural areas surrounding these communities.^[8] The villages retained their distinct existence and identities.

A community settled in the early 18th century as, Bottle Hill, and located in Morris Township when the area was within the English Province of New Jersey, became subject to governance by the new township. It changed its name to Madison in 1834 to honor President James Madison.^[9] On December 27, 1889, Madison was incorporated as a borough with portions of the rural lands that had formerly been within the township.

The village, John Day's Bridge, that had been settled in 1710, adopted the name of Chatham in 1773 when New Jersey was an English province to honor William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham.^[10] On August 19, 1892, Chatham, which also had been settled in the early 18th century within Morris Township and was an active community in the revolution, adopted the village form of government and adopted the borough form of government on March 1, 1897, when that form became available to New Jersey municipalities.

Florham Park was formed from portions of the township on March 9, 1899.^[11]

Most of Green Village has always been within the township's governmental boundaries.^[8]

New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Chatham Township as the 9th best place to live in New Jersey in its 2005 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.^[12]

Geography

Chatham Township is located at 40°43′42″N 74°24′56″W / 40.72833°N 74.41556°W / 40.72833; -74.41556 (40.728203 -74.415657).^[13]

According to the United States Census Bureau, Chatham Township has a total area of 9.4 square miles (24 km²), of which, 9.3 square miles (24 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²) of it (0.21%) is water.

Green Village is an unincorporated area that is also partially in Harding Township. Green Village is the site of the Rolling Knolls Landfill, a landfill identified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund site. The landfill is bordered on two sides by the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, and was formerly known as Miele's Dump, after owner Robert Miele.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1930	1,115		—
1940	2,026		81.7%
1950	2,825		39.4%
1960	5,931		109.9%
1970	8,093		36.5%
1980	8,883		9.8%
1990	9,361		5.4%
2000	10,086		7.7%
2010	10,452		3.6%
Population sources 1930 - 1990.[14] 2000[15] 2010[4]

As of the census of 2000,^[5] there were 10,086 people, 3,920 households, and 2,771 families residing in Chatham Township. The population density was 1,081.0 people per square mile (417.4/km²). There were 4,019 housing units at an average density of 430.8 per square mile (166.3/km²). The racial makeup was 93.71% White, 0.45% African American, 0.06% Native American, 4.81% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.15% from other races, and 0.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.95% of the population.^[15]

There were 3,920 households out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.4% were married couples living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.3% were non-families. 26.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.11.^[15]

The population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 3.7% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 90.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males.^[15]

The median income for a household was $106,208, and the median income for a family was $131,609. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $58,750 for females. The per capita income was $65,497. About 1.9% of families and 2.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.0% of those under age 18 and 2.9% of those age 65 or over.^[15]

Government

Local government

Chatham Township is governed under the Township form of government with a five-member Township Committee. The Township Committee is elected directly by the voters in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with one or two seats coming up for election each year.^[16] At an annual reorganization meeting, the Township Committee selects one of its members to serve as Mayor.

The mayor serves as the chair of the township committee and has powers vested in the mayor's office by general law.

The township committee is the legislative branch of the community's government and establishes policies for the administration of the various departments. The committee appoints the township administrator who is responsible for carrying out those policies and overseeing the day to day operations.

Subcommittees of the township committee are public safety; public works; planning, engineering, and land use; parks and recreation; general administration; and finance. Two members of the township committee serve on each and provide oversight to the departments.

As of 2011^[update], members of the Chatham Township Committee are Mayor Nicole Hagner, Deputy Mayor Robert Gallop, Bailey Brower, Jr., William O'Connor, Kevin R. Tubbs.^[17]

Federal, state and county representation

Chatham Township is in the 11th Congressional district and is part of New Jersey's 21st state legislative district.^[18] The city was relocated to the 27th state legislative district by the New Jersey Apportionment Commission based on the results of the 2010 Census.^[4] The new district is in effect for the June 2011 primary and the November 2011 general election, with the state senator and assembly members elected taking office in the new district as of January 2012.^[18]

New Jersey's Eleventh Congressional District is represented by Rodney Frelinghuysen (R, Harding Township). New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).

21st Legislative District of the New Jersey Legislature, which is represented in the New Jersey Senate by Thomas Kean, Jr. (R, Westfield) and in the New Jersey General Assembly by Jon Bramnick (R, Westfield) and Nancy Munoz (R, Summit).^[19] The Governor of New Jersey is Chris Christie (R, Mendham).^[20] The Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey is Kim Guadagno (R, Monmouth Beach).^[21]

Morris County is governed by a seven-member Board of Chosen Freeholders, who are elected at-large to three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with two or three seats coming up for election each year.^[22] As of 2011, Morris County's Freeholders are Freeholder Director William J. Chegwidden (Wharton),^[23] Deputy Freeholder Director Douglas R. Cabana (Boonton Township),^[24] Gene F. Feyl (Denville),^[25] Ann F. Grassi (Parsippany-Troy Hills),^[26] Thomas J. Mastrangelo (Montville),^[27] John J. Murphy (Morris Township)^[28] and Margaret Nordstrom (Washington Township).^[29][30]

Politics

In recent years, on the national and state levels, Chatham Township leans toward the Republican Party. In the 2008 Presidential Election, Republican John McCain received 53.8% of the vote, defeating Democrat Barack Obama, who received around 44.6%.^[31] In the 2009 Gubernatorial Election, Republican Chris Christie received 60.7% of the vote, defeating Democrat Jon Corzine, who received around 29.1%.^[32]

History

In 1773, John Day's Bridge, a village governed by the English township of Morris since its settlement in 1710, was renamed as, Chatham, in honor of Sir William Pitt, a British prime minister and the first Earl of Chatham who was most favorable toward the colonists of the Province of New Jersey in issues with the British government.^[10] Participation in the revolutionary war was significant by the citizens of Chatham. Nearby Morristown was the military center of the revolution, where the winter headquarters were established twice, and revolutionary troops were active in the entire area regularly.

The township form of government is the oldest form of municipal government in New Jersey since it became an American state following the revolution. That form of local government dates back to the act of 1798. During a reorganization of Morris County in 1806 and taking its name from one of the historic settlements it would govern, Chatham Township was formed to include several colonial villages and settlements that had been made part of previously existing townships. A great deal of open, swampy, and mountainous land was included with the villages. For a while, the new township included what are now, Madison, Chatham, and Florham Park, as well as all of Green Village and all of the lands still governed by Chatham Township, but soon the principle villages began to secede because of contention over the funding of their projects.

Of the pre-revolutionary settlements gathered into it when it was formed, only portions of Green Village have remained governed by Chatham Township, which has never had a community center. The settled areas seceded from the township because of financial issues. Disposition of funds from taxes was perceived as inequitable to the settled areas given their needs versus that of the rural areas, causing them to form their own taxation and governance systems.^[33]

On December 27, 1889, based on the results of a referendum passed three days earlier, the village of Madison seceded from Chatham Township and adopted the borough form of government in order to develop a local water supply system for its population of 3,250. Madison annexed additional portions of Chatham Township in 1891, and annexed more each year from 1894–1898, followed finally, by an exchange of some lands in 1899 with Chatham Township.

In the midst of these changes, in 1892 "...Chatham Village found itself at odds with the rest of the township. Although village residents paid 40 percent of the township taxes, they got only 7 percent of the receipts in services. The village had to raise its own money to install kerosene street lamps and its roads were in poor repair. As a result, the village voted on August 9, 1892, to secede from the township."^[10]

The village that is now Florham Park first was part of Hanover Township, before being included in the township formed in 1806 as Chatham Township. It also seceded from Chatham Township and incorporated as Florham Park in 1899.

Green Village remained in the township until 1922, when portions of it became part of Harding Township, another new township. Its main intersection remains in Chatham Township.

The boundaries of Chatham Township finally settled down and have remained the same since 1922. Residential developments began in the late 1950s when farm lands and greenhouses began to be sold off and ownership of automobiles increased dramatically. By the 1960s its post WWII boom in housing was in full swing in Chatham Township.

The township remained rural until the 1960s and 1970s when rezoning enabled residential development of the open spaces to begin. Today, Chatham Township shares three joint public services with Chatham Borough: the recreation program, the library and the school district.

Education

Public Schools

Main article: School District of the Chathams

Chatham and Chatham Township held elections in November 1986 to consider joining their (at the time separate) school districts. This proposal was supported by the voters of both communities and since then, the two municipalities have shared a regionalized school district, the School District of the Chathams.

For the 2004-05 school year, Chatham High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,^[34] the highest award an American school can receive. The school was the 8th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 10th in 2008 out of 316 schools.^[35]

Private school

Chatham Day School, founded in 1998, is a private coeducational day school located in Chatham Township, serving students in preschool through eighth grade. The school has a total enrollment of 115 students. Originally founded in 1998, the school changed its name from The Darcy School after finding a permanent campus in Chatham Township in 2005.^[36]

Transport

New Jersey Transit provides ample public transport to Chatham Township.

Rail transport

New Jersey Transit stops at the Chatham station to provide commuter service on the Morristown Line, with trains heading to the Hoboken Terminal and to New York Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. It is a short drive from most of the township to the stations in Madison and Chatham, and for the southern part of the township, the Murray Hill station is closer still.

Bus transport

New Jersey Transit local bus service is provided on the MCM3 and MCM8 routes.^[37]

Notable residents

• Chris Carlin (born 1972), radio producer and sportscaster at WFAN Sports Radio 66 in New York City.^[38]

References

1. ^ 2011 New Jersey Mayors Directory, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Accessed July 15, 2011.
2. ^ Township Departments, Chatham Township. Accessed April 1, 2011.
3. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Township of Chatham, Geographic Names Information System, accessed April 12, 2007.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} 2011 Apportionment Redistricting: Municipalities sorted alphabetically, New Jersey Department of State, p. 2. Accessed July 15, 2011.
5. ^ ^{a b} "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
6. ^ A Cure for the Common Codes: New Jersey, Missouri Census Data Center. Accessed July 14, 2008.
7. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 191.
9. ^ http://www.madisonhistoricalsociety.org/sites/default/files/Village%20of%20Madison%20-%201834%20-%201889.pdf Village of Madison, Chatham Township – 1834 to 1889, Madison Historical Society. Accessed July 17, 2011.
10. ^ ^{a b c} Cheslow, Jerry. "If You're Thinking of Living In/Chatham; Rich Past, Bustling but Homey Present", The New York Times, April 17, 1994. Accessed July 15, 2011.
11. ^ Weis, Eleanor. "Florham Park History", NJMorrisCountyOnline.com, November 3, 2005. Accessed July 17, 2011. "The growing settlement was always a legal part of a larger township; first Whippany; then Hanover Township (1718) which ran from the Passaic to the Delaware River; then Chatham Township (1806) until Florham Park was founded on March 20, 1899."
12. ^ "Best Places To Live - The Complete Top Towns List 1-100", New Jersey Monthly, February 21, 2008. Accessed February 24, 2008.
13. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2011-04-23. 
14. ^ New Jersey Resident Population by Municipality: 1930 - 1990, Workforce New Jersey Public Information Network, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 2, 2009. Accessed July 6, 2011.
15. ^ ^{a b c d e} Census 2000 Demographic Profile Highlights: Chatham township, Morris County, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau. Accessed July 15, 2011.
16. ^ 2005 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book, Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, April 2005, p. 94.
17. ^ Chatham Township Committee, Chatham Township. Accessed April 1, 2011.
18. ^ ^{a b} 2011 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women Voters, p. 56. Accessed July 15, 2011.
19. ^ "Legislative Roster: 2010-2011 Session". New Jersey Legislature. http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/roster.asp. Retrieved 2010-07-15. 
20. ^ "About the Governor". New Jersey. http://www.nj.gov/governor/about/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
21. ^ "About the Lieutenant Governor". New Jersey. http://www.nj.gov/governor/lt/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
22. ^ What is a Freeholder?, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 5, 2011.
23. ^ William J. Chegwidden, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 9, 2011.
24. ^ Douglas R. Cabana, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 9, 2011.
25. ^ Gene F. Feyl, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 9, 2011.
26. ^ Ann F. Grossi, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 9, 2011.
27. ^ Thomas J. Mastrangelo, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 9, 2011.
28. ^ John J. Murphy, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 9, 2011.
29. ^ Margaret Nordstrom, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 9, 2011.
30. ^ Meet the Freeholders, Morris County, New Jersey. Accessed January 9, 2011.
31. ^ 2008 Presidential General Election Results: Morris County. New Jersey Department of State. Accessed July 17, 2011.
32. ^ 2009 Governor: Morris County Election Results. New Jersey Department of State. Accessed July 17, 2011.
33. ^ History of Chatham Township, Chatham Township. Accessed December 13, 2006.
34. ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 2003 Through 2005, United States Department of Education. Accessed April 1, 2011.
35. ^ Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed April 1, 2011.
36. ^ History, Chatham Day School. Accessed July 17, 2011.
37. ^ Morris County Bus/Rail Connections, New Jersey Transit, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 22, 2009. Accessed July 17, 2011.
38. ^ Chris Carlin profile, WFAN. Accessed June 19, 2007. "Chris grew up in Chatham Township, New Jersey, and attended Oratory Prep High School in Summit."

External links

• Chatham Township website
• Chatham Township, New Jersey at the Open Directory Project